WWII Marine from Mississippi laid to rest in Liberty

Almost three-quarters of a century ago, Marine Corps Pfc. James "Sam" Smith wrote his family an upbeat letter from overseas as he served in WWII.

"Don't worry about me, because I will be back soon. When we come back, there will be no more fighting, and the world will be safe for all of us again," Smith wrote. "The Lord will see me safely through this war."

He was killed on Nov. 20, 1943, in the Gilbert Islands. For more than seven decades, his family didn't know what became of him, just that he was believed dead after a battle in the Gilbert Islands that was said to be one of the most bloody in Marine Corps history.

Finally, Smith is home, laid to rest in Liberty Cemetery in his hometown of Liberty on Monday.

It has been quite a process of closure and healing for his family, as he's remembered as the uncle who was lost at war. None of his remaining family members ever knew him, though they had heard his story.

"I can’t tell you how uplifted my heart is right now and how much it meant to my family. My parents and grandparents never knew what happened to him," his nephew, Carey Smith, said. "His sacrifice, the patriotism of these people, it's just remarkable, and how honored we are that they’re being patriotic like this. I can’t express how greatly lifted it makes your soul."

Sam Smith's niece, Debbie Mabry, had a son who was a soldier stationed in Washington, D.C., in March when she had a dream that she was seeing a sight no one who loves a service member wants to see.

"I had a dream I was being notified. I looked out the window and saw an Army car that looked like it was from WWII pull up to the house, and they came to the front door but my dream ended as I was fixing to open the door," she said.

On Monday, as her family and friends lay Smith to rest 73 years after his death, the Starkville resident said that dream makes a lot more sense.

"Within a couple of months of that, I got a phone call from the genealogist from the Marines that was trying to locate family members to identify Sam’s body through DNA, so I feel like this is the continuation of that dream, that this is what was happening on the other side of the door," Mabry said. "It’s really special to me that I had that dream first, just letting me know something was fixing to take place. I had no idea it was going to be this. I just feel like my family is rejoicing today."

Most of those who attended the service and burial for the 19-year-old Marine were there to honor his memory, but they hadn't known him. Next to the casket at Brown Funeral Home, a man could be overheard asking a woman, "Who was this man? Does he still have family living?"

BACKGROUND: KIA WWII Mississippi Marine to be buried Monday

He had come to honor Smith's sacrifice, like so many others in attendance, including Gov. Phil Bryant, the sheriffs of at least three counties, community members and numerous law enforcement, fire service and military personnel.

But Kenneth Gordon, a 94-year-old veteran of the U.S. Navy, had served through three years of the war, and he knew Smith in high school. He was the lone WWII veteran at the funeral by most accounts.

"I knew him well, his family, his daddy. They were fine people," he said. "This is a very tragic thing, but this was as beautiful a service as I've ever seen in my life."

Gordon said the attention Smith's return has garnered means the world to him.

"I’m just happy as I can be at the way the Mississippi press and media have honored this occasion so well and shown so much attention to it. We feel like our boys' lives were not totally in vain for what they did," Gordon said. "They’re not forgotten. We remember."

Ridgeland's Becky Bailey, another one of Smith's nieces, held his letter close on Monday, still keeping pieces of what the Marine had written so many years later.

"We’re so glad to have closure, he’s resting with his parents and they’re all together now," she said. "We’re thrilled, we had lived all of our lives knowing he was missing, that he had been killed in the war. It’s a very good feeling. It’s very sad, and it’s touching and heartwarming."

SEE ALSO: Local WWII pilot returns to the skies on Memorial Day

The significance of the event wasn't lost on those who attended the funeral. The Marine Corps Honor Guard lifted the flag-draped casket into and out of the hearse crisply and respectfully, and many people dabbed their eyes at the 21-gun salute. When the flag was presented to Carey Smith by Honor Guard members, it seemed as though the closure was complete.

"Obviously it’s critical that we always remember our warfighters, those that are loved and lost. And 70 years later it’s an honor to know that Mississippi has a hero that’s returning," Bryant said. "He’s been home with his heavenly father, but now his remains are here at home in Amite County in Liberty."

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.